Ted Greene: Solo Guitar

At first I knew Ted Greene only through his legendary guitar manual, Chord Chemistry, which has since guided me through three four years of continuous study and musical growth, with no end in sight. One day while studying Ted’s thoughts about chord substitution in jazz improvisation, I began to wonder what the man actually sounds like with a guitar in his hands. Would it be artistically satisfying, or would it sound more like an athletic exercise in finger-wiggling, like most supposedly “great guitarists”?

Solo Guitar is the only official record of Ted’s virtuosic jazz guitar work, and it is breathtaking. Hearing it for the first time changed my life and obliterated my notions of what one man can do with a guitar. I can still remember the first time I heard Ted play walking bass lines on the bottom strings while striking chords and playing variations on a tune’s melody all at the same time;  a revelation, it made me feel ashamed for having ever backed down from similar instrumental challenges. Solo Guitar is striking because Ted used all of his technical prowess to create beautiful, lyrical sounds instead of just using the disc as an excuse to show off his chops. This guy plays harmonies as complex as most pianists’–quite an accomplishment!

Solo Guitar is almost incidental, a byproduct of his studies and his teaching. Ted’s real lifetime achievement was the accumulation and sharing of knowledge. We’re talking here about a guy who had a reputation for being able to improvise counterpoint in the style of Bach! I wish I had more than a half hour’s worth of his music to spin, but fortunately that half hour’s worth never gets old.

Ted passed away in 2005, but he still hasn’t retired. Visit www.tedgreene.com for free instruction, tapes of private lessons recorded by his students, pdf files of his notes and homework assignments, and videos of the man in action. Before you leave, be sure to check out his memorial wall online and read a few stories. Each one represents a life that this humble master touched. It makes one doubt whether the life of a rock star “guitar god” is really the desirable option, if we compare that with Ted’s role in training and inspiring so many burgeoning instrumentalists.

Go buy Solo Guitar, and if you’re a player yourself, buy Chord Chemistry too. Both will be your constant companions for years to come.

Oct. 4th 2010 Update: This tribute to Ted was my first-ever blog post on this site a year ago. Today, on revisiting, I found that Ted’s romantic partner Barbara Franklin had left a wonderful message below–months ago, somehow without me knowing. Thank you so much, Barbara!

Ted Greene Recordings & Resources

• Solo Guitar (audio)
• Chord Chemistry (book)
• Modern Chord Progressions (book)
• The Ted Greene Archives (free resources from the late Ted’s notes)
• A Word of Encouragement from a Master Musician and Theoretician (article and video)
• Ted Greene Archive Videos on YouTube (LOTS of amazing videos here!)